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Holi is the festival of colours. But playing with colours, especially artificial colours, can not only lead to skin problems but also harm your eyes and lungs. Here are precautions to prevent asthma attacks during Holi. Hence, if you are playing Holi this season, make sure you use natural colours and also practise safe Holi to make the most of it. However, if unknowingly, you ingest the colour or the colour gets into your eyes or if your skin starts to sting, here are a few first-aid tips by Dr Pradip Shah, consultant physician, Fortis Hospital, Mahim you must follow before you consult a doctor.
For the eyes:
If dry colour gets into the eyes, make sure you wash your eyes with plain water. Do this till you feel that most of the colour is washed off. Also, do not use hot or cold water to wash it off but plain normal temperature water to clean your eyes as it can lead to irritation of the eyes.
Do not rub the eyes, if colour gets into the eyes as it can further worsen the condition. It can also lead to irritation and watery eyes. Instead, you can put moisturising eye drops to soothe the irritation and provide some relief, after washing off the colour from the eyes. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
For the skin:
If your skin starts to itch or sting after playing with colours, then wash off the area with plain water and apply oil or moisturiser on the skin to soothe it. If you have redness or itchy skin, then consult a dermatologist at the earliest.
In some cases, contact with chemicals present in the colour or dye with the skin can lead to contact allergy, which can only be treated with an anti-allergy medication. As this is not an OTC medication, you have to consult a doctor to get it treated.
If you accidentally suffer a wound, then use an antiseptic ointment to clean the wound after washing it with water and patting it dry. Make sure you clean the area around and also use a band-aid to cover the wound to prevent any infection.
For the mouth:
If you ingest any colour, then the first and foremost thing to do is to gargle with water so as to throw out any colour that you might have ingested.
Do not eat any food that has come in contact with Holi colours. In most place, refreshments are provided and most people even without washing the hands, eat the contaminated food, which can lead to can be harmful to the body.
Consult a doctor if you feel uneasy or feel that you have ingested any colours. In the meanwhile, eat only soft foods as it can help you to flush out colour from the through poop as the colour can get stick to the food and excreted out. Not just this, due to playing Holi under the sun and on empty stomach, some people also faint due to dehydration. Have a safe HOLI!
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